Now almost a month since they began, the Occupy Wall Street protests are spreading across the country and finally garnering media attention. Over the weekend, members of the editorial page board visited Zuccotti Park in New York City to observe the protests and speak with young people about their role in them.
We were surprised there was not a more conspicuous, organized mass of college students among the occupiers. There is certainly no shortage of problems for us to protest. Unemployment among college graduates younger than 25 averaged nearly 10 percent during the past year. Some young Brown alums are still having trouble finding work or have been forced to take unpaid internships or jobs that do not even require a college degree. Even those lucky enough to be employed will feel the effects of the recession for years to come in the form of reduced earnings.
These protests present a tremendous opportunity to push for action on issues directly affecting us, like the poor job market and high cost of education. A member of the Occupy Wall Street media team told us, "We are waiting for new movements to come in and give (the protest) a more defined shape." We should provide that definition. A substantial influx of organized students into the occupation would provide media attention for our issues and help build a coalition of supporters that extends beyond just young people.
Critics of the movement often cite the lack of concrete, comprehensive policy prescriptions as a mark against the protesters. But the protests need not generate ingenious policy proposals to be successful. Society's quandaries are not without remedy. The problem is not a lack of solutions, but a lack of political will to implement them. It is this problem that Occupy Wall Street may help solve.
With enough popular support, politicians will eventually be forced to stop jerking from one meaningless partisan spat to the next and actually address our country's woes. Policymakers in Washington, D.C., are already being forced to take note of the growing movement.
While down on Wall Street, we encountered a group of inspiring students from Kentucky's Berea College, a school whose entire student body comes from socioeconomically deprived backgrounds and is on full scholarship. Their student government helped raise money and solicited donations from professors, neighboring churches and other donors to secure transportation to and from New York. Berea's student body president noted that he would like to see more students at Occupy Wall Street, but that it is unrealistic and ultimately not as productive to have students around the country descend on Wall Street.
Instead, students and universities — traditional and powerful vehicles for progressive change — must organize locally to expand the movement across the country. We applaud the initiatives taken by Occupy College Hill and Occupy Providence and are heartened by last night's "Occupy Teach-In" with Brown faculty members. It is up to us to institutionalize and solidify the messages from Occupy Wall Street, to give this exciting and far-overdue movement "a more defined shape."
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
